LAWYERSCHILE EL MUNDO INTERNACIONAL DEL ABOGADO

Rodrigo González Fernández y un grupo de egresados de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad la Republica en Chile ha decidido poner al alcance de todo el mundo de la profesion legal importantes materias en Ingles para ir practicando el trabajo en materia de Tratados internacionales y que nuestra profesión estará en primera linea. Invitamos a todos a opinar, debatir, participar activamente.Es el primer blog legal en inglés de latinoamerica.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Legal Blog Watch

Legal Blog Watch

Is Avvo the Amazon of Law?

Mark Britton, the CEO of controversial lawyer-rating site Avvo, recorded an interview last week with the U.K. legal podcast OUT-LAW Radio. (For other podcasts about Avvo, see here.) In it, he discusses the lawsuit against his company and expresses his belief that Avvo's lawyer ratings are protected by the First Amendment. According to OUT-LAW's report on the interview, he also said that the lawsuit against Avvo poses a threat to all online product-rating systems, including those used by companies such as Amazon.com and Buy.com. "[Making] information flow more fluidly should be everyone's goal," the article quotes Britton. "To somehow strike against that hurts every site whether it's a site like Avvo or a site like Amazon or Buy.com." (Having listened to the podcast, I never heard him say those words, so perhaps the recording is edited. One thing he did say is this: "The lawsuit is a pretty silly attempt to bomb us back to the stone age.")

Meanwhile, in this week's National Law Journal, Stanford Law School legal-ethics professor Deborah Rhode, a member of Avvo's advisory board, says that the emergence of lawyer-ranking companies such as Avvo is partly the result of secrecy in official lawyer-discipline systems. When it comes to states posting lawyer-discipline data online, Rhode tells the NLJ, "We're still a long distance from where we ought to be." As the NLJ piece by reporter Vesna Jaksic portrays, in providing public access to this data, many states remain in that stone age to which Britton alluded. The reason for that, Rhode says, in large part is because disciplinary systems are run by lawyers, who want to protect their own. With that self-imposed shroud of secrecy in place, she suggests, the door is wide open to consumer-ranking sites such as Avvo.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 10, 2007 at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Can Law Schools Do Better?

David Giacalone points us to the latest issue of the online magazine The Complete Lawyer, which focuses on the question, What Can Law Schools Do Better? (Someone needs to update TCL's front page, which still lists the last issue as the current issue.) Among those exploring the need for reform of legal education are several highly regarded law school deans and legal educators. Their articles include:

Practicing Lawyers Can Change Legal Education, by University of South Carolina School of Law professor Roy T. Stuckey.
We Need to Produce Lawyers, Not Technicians, by Lisa A. Kloppenberg, dean of the University of Dayton School of Law.
Law School Innovations Result In Broader Students, an interview with Stanford Law School Dean Larry D. Kramer.
Educating Law Students For Leadership, by Donald J. Polden, dean and professor of law at Santa Clara University.
Developing A Personal And Professional Identity In Law School, by Daisy Hurst Floyd, dean and professor of law at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law.
Turning Law Students Into Lawyers, by Kenneth R. Margolis, professor of law, director of the CaseArc Integrated Lawyering Skills Program and co-director of the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

While at The Complete Lawyer, check out its new TCL Weblog Directory, an annotated list of some 110 blogs whose content focuses on "the professionalism and quality of life and career issues that impact every lawyer's success and satisfaction." Giacalone compiled the directory and welcomes suggestions of blogs to add.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 10, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Law Firms Outpace Porn Vendors in Tech

It has become a truism that the porn industry has blazed the trail for technological innovation, particularly online. Even the history magazine American Heritage featured an article, When Sex Drives Technological Innovation, crediting the porn industry as the pioneering force in the development of such technologies as online payment systems and digital watermarking. Five years ago, Brooke Gladstone, co-host of the NPR program On the Media, examined the porn industry's key role in the development of new technology in her report, Is Pornography Driving Technology? So I was interested over the weekend to hear Gladstone's interview with Wired magazine's sex and technology correspondent Regina Lynn, who argues that porn "may be losing its innovation mojo." Most notably, Lynn points to the online porn industry's failure to embrace the collaborative and social-networking features that define Web 2.0.

With that interview fresh in my mind, I was struck by a sense of irony to read today's results of the 12th AmLaw Tech survey, which suggests that Am Law 200 firms are now, to a significant extent, becoming technology trailblazers. Does this mean that Biglaw is outpacing porn as an adopter and driver of new technology? The article cites Atlanta's Kilpatrick Stockton as "on the edge of a new frontier," having launched a variety of online collaboration initiatives, dozens of blogs and a sophisticated contact-mining tool. And Kilpatrick is not alone, says the survey, which compiled results from 126 of the 200 highest-grossing firms:

"We found that many firms are ratcheting up their use of online collaboration tools. They're also using more mobile wireless technology and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), leveraging extranets to share information with clients, automating processes by using a host of software applications, and moving slowly to Microsoft's new Vista operating systems. Overall, firms report such benefits from online collaboration as increased productivity (cited by 77 percent of the survey respondents); better client service (75 percent); improved processes (44 percent); better access to ideas (38 percent); cost savings (38 percent); and greater innovation (26 percent)."

Lynn tells On the Media that porn vendors have been slow to incorporate the collaborative features of Web 2.0 because it is hard for them to think of their users as partners. By contrast, Matt Kesner, CTO at Fenwick & West in Mountain View, Calif., tells AmLaw Tech that for law firms, "Collaboration is the name of the game today." So perhaps the truism is no longer true -- perhaps the legal industry is surpassing the porn industry as a driver of technological innovation. But there is one final irony to the comparison: Lynn believes that the most significant obstacles keeping porn producers from adopting more collaborative technologies are the many laws that curtail their activities. If so, then in the race towards tomorrow's technology, the legal industry may have an unfair advantage.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 10, 2007 at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
www..Consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
Renato Sánchez 3586
telefono: 5839786
santiago-chile

Escribanos, consúltenos, opine

Monday, September 10, 2007

Legal Blog Watch

Legal Blog Watch

Is Avvo the Amazon of Law?

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 10, 2007 at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Can Law Schools Do Better?

Practicing Lawyers Can Change Legal Education, by University of South Carolina School of Law professor Roy T. Stuckey.
We Need to Produce Lawyers, Not Technicians, by Lisa A. Kloppenberg, dean of the University of Dayton School of Law.
Law School Innovations Result In Broader Students, an interview with Stanford Law School Dean Larry D. Kramer.
Educating Law Students For Leadership, by Donald J. Polden, dean and professor of law at Santa Clara University.
Developing A Personal And Professional Identity In Law School, by Daisy Hurst Floyd, dean and professor of law at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law.
Turning Law Students Into Lawyers, by Kenneth R. Margolis, professor of law, director of the CaseArc Integrated Lawyering Skills Program and co-director of the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 10, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Law Firms Outpace Porn Vendors in Tech

"We found that many firms are ratcheting up their use of online collaboration tools. They're also using more mobile wireless technology and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), leveraging extranets to share information with clients, automating processes by using a host of software applications, and moving slowly to Microsoft's new Vista operating systems. Overall, firms report such benefits from online collaboration as increased productivity (cited by 77 percent of the survey respondents); better client service (75 percent); improved processes (44 percent); better access to ideas (38 percent); cost savings (38 percent); and greater innovation (26 percent)."

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 10, 2007 at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Sunday, September 02, 2007

Bloggers battered by viral storm

Some blogs have been found hosting booby-trapped links

Google's Blogger site is being used by malicious hackers who are posting fake entries to some blogs.

The fake entries contain weblinks that lead to booby-trapped downloads that could infect a Windows PC.

Infected computers are being hijacked by the gang behind the attacks and either mined for saleable data or used for other attacks.

The Blogger attack is the latest in a series by a gang that has managed to hijack hundreds of thousands of PCs.

Attack pattern

Security researcher Alex Eckelberry from Sunbelt Software first noticed the booby-trapped links turning up on Blogger on 27 August.

Now many hundreds of blogs on the site have been updated with a short entry containing the link.

Mr Eckelberry said it was not yet clear how the links were posted to blogs. The bogus entries could have exploited a Blogger feature that lets users e-mail entries to their journal.

The blogs themselves could also be fake and set up solely to act as hosts for spam.

STORM WORM SUBJECT LINES

are you kidding me? lol

Dude dont send that stuff to my home email...

Dude your gonna get caught, lol

HAHAHAHAHAHA, man your insane!

I cant belive you did this

LMAO, your crazy man

LOL, dude what are you doing

man, who filmed this thing?

oh man your nutz

OMG, what are you thinking

Commenting on the attack a Google spokesperson said: "The blog posts are likely from users' whose machines have been compromised by a virus.

"Among the other recipients of spam e-mails generated by the virus are users' mail2blogger accounts, which allow them to update their blogs via e-mail," said the spokesperson.

"We are in the process of notifying impacted users and recommending that they scan their computers and run current anti-virus tools--good advice for all internet users," they added.

The entries on the blogs have the same text as some of the spam distributed by the group behind the attacks. These attempt to trick people into clicking on links and downloading booby-trapped files using cleverly crafted messages.

Some pose as YouTube links others claim to be looking for testers of software packages or digital greetings cards.

The group behind the attack on Blogger is thought to have mounted a huge series of attacks since January.

The first attack used a spam that purported to give recipients more information about the severe storms seen in Europe in January. This led to the virus used by the gang being dubbed the "Storm Trojan".

Since January the group has been sending out huge numbers of different spam messages in a bid to trick people.

"The criminals responsible for this spam campaign are experts at exploiting social engineering to propagate their botnets," said Bradley Anstis from security firm Marshal.

The spam messages have been changed to capitalise on news events and the viral payload has been updated many times to fool anti-virus programs.

Mr Anstis said the sheer number of messages being sent by the group was staggering. On some days, he said, 4-6% of all the junk messages seen by Marshal were sent by the group.

Security experts estimate that the group can send out so much junk mail because they have hijacked so many Windows PCs via successive campaigns. Some suspect that the group has infected more than one million PCs over the last eight months.

Escribanos, consúltenos, opine

Saturday, September 01, 2007

What's Hot

What's Hot
What's Ahead for the Stock Market -- and Quant Funds
After weeks of skittishness and fear, investors showed signs on Tuesday of settling down. "Yesterday was one of the dullest days in the market that we've had in a while, and that's good in many ways," says Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel. Investors have been reeling from widespread problems in the subprime sector, stocks have fallen, yields on Treasury securities have dropped and some companies are finding it hard to borrow money -- all of which spurred the Federal Reserve last week to announce a cut in interest rates. Meanwhile, the upheaval has shown that quant funds, despite their computer power, aren't immune to mistakes and market downturns. So what can we expect in the weeks ahead?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1797.cfm

Finance and Investment
(Podcast with Transcript)
Looking for a Company to Run? Search Funds Could Be the Answer
For those entrepreneurs who want to run a company but prefer to skip the start-up stage, search funds offer a possible alternative. A specialized form of private equity first launched in the mid-1980s, search funds are becoming increasingly popular -- and their supporters claim they can offer investors attractive returns and business owners a compelling exit strategy. What does this trend in private equity mean for investors, and for small businesses that might be acquisition targets for these funds? Robert Befidi, Jr., and Mark Sinatra, managing directors of Gordian Capital in New York City, spoke to Knowledge@Wharton about the pros and cons of search funds.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1793.cfm

Law and Public Policy
Trouble in Toyland: New Challenges for Mattel -- and 'Made in China'
Mattel's recall of more than 10 million toys in the U.S. over the past three weeks has done more than focus attention on the company's wide array of products, which include such household names as Elmo, Ernie, Big Bird, Barbie and Batman. It has also further raised public awareness of quality control problems in China and the relentless push to cut costs along every step of the supply chain. Knowledge@Wharton looks at Mattel's response to the crisis, its potential liability and the consequences for China.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1796.cfm

Managing Technology
Rivals Set Their Sights on Microsoft Office: Can They Topple the Giant?
It's open season on Microsoft Office. Google is distributing Sun Microsystems' StarOffice and also has its own web-based productivity suite. Apple has a new spreadsheet called Numbers to compete with Microsoft's Excel. Open source suite OpenOffice, along with several web-based products, are attacking as well. All these challengers emerge at a time when Microsoft's dominance in productivity software -- Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel -- remains strong. So why try to overthrow the leader? And how vulnerable is Microsoft to this assault?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1795.cfm

Marketing
'If Brands Are Built Over Years, Why Are They Managed Over Quarters?'
Wharton marketing professor Leonard Lodish admits he is somewhat to blame for the erosion in brand pricing power that has hit many consumer-goods companies -- but not entirely to blame. In 1993, as store-level scanning data started to become widely available, Lodish coauthored an article outlining its power to gauge the effect of price promotions on revenue. But he also warned that these tools were not the only determinant of brand power. In a new paper, Lodish and co-author Carl F. Mela show how widespread adoption of easy-to-harness, short-term measures has altered consumer behavior and made it harder for brand managers to compete.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1790.cfm

Finance and Investment
The Art and Science of Measuring CEO Performance
The long-term performance of a company's stock may be the ultimate test of a CEO's talents. But that's not the only measurement used by boards of directors to gauge how well the boss is doing. Experts at Wharton and elsewhere say that companies use many different metrics -- all of which can be fine-tuned to fit a company's circumstances.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1794.cfm

Leadership and Change
Talking with the Receptionist, Pausing When You Speak and Other Secrets of Leadership Success
Several years ago, while visiting a regional branch of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global career management services company, then-president Stephen Harrison was stopped short by "Ray," his COO. "You didn't greet the receptionist," said Ray, who went on to explain that "a receptionist is a corporate concierge. They will talk to more important people in a day -- suppliers, customers, even CEOs -- than you will talk to all year." Harrison, speaking at the recent 11th annual Wharton Leadership Conference, contends that small acts like this are part of what makes for an ethical corporate culture. He was joined at the conference by public speaking coach Richard Greene, author of Words that Shook the World: 100 Years of Unforgettable Speeches and Events.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1792.cfm

Finance and Investment
A Fish Tale on a Macro Scale: How Sushi Has Changed Globalization (and the World)
Over the past two decades, sushi -- a familiar, accessible and immensely desirable food that can be found in supermarket aisles and fast food outlets as well as high-end restaurants -- has become a staple of cultures around the globe. Indeed, far from signaling the snobbery of those who eat it, sushi today belongs to the masses. Yet sushi also says something important about how wealth, taste and markets interact, according to Sasha Issenberg. In his new book, The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy, Issenberg argues that sushi reveals the "complex dynamics of globalization" and shows, against all odds, that "a virtuous global commerce and food culture can exist."
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1791.cfm
_________________________________________________________________
Articles From Around the Network

India Knowledge@Wharton
Responding to the Rising Rupee: Why Indian Firms Must Rethink Their Business Models
In recent weeks, many Indian companies and industry organizations -- especially those that are export-oriented -- have been complaining about the strong rupee's negative effects on their operations. Some have urged the Reserve Bank of India to intervene. Jitendra V. Singh of Wharton's management department -- who takes over as dean of Singapore's Nanyang Business School on September 1 -- has a different view. In this opinion piece, Singh argues that Indian firms should use the rupee's strength to their advantage by adapting their business models in innovative ways, much as Japan's automakers did during the 1980s.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4218

China Knowledge@Wharton
Despite Good Intentions, China's New Labor Law Leaves as Many Issues Unresolved as It Addresses
The passage of a sweeping new labor law in late June by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) followed public outcry over the brick kiln slavery scandal in northern China's Shanxi Province. The new law aims to provide more protection for lower-level, unskilled workers by emphasizing written contracts, equal pay and long-term job security. Yet businesses operating on thin margins worry about increasing labor costs, and some multinationals fear they might be at a disadvantage when they observe the law while local competitors flaunt it. Although the two-year legislation process has been noted for its balanced inclusion of different views, labor law experts still hotly debate the validity, applicability and enforceability of the new law.
http://knowledgeatwharton.com.cn/index.cfm?fa=article&articleid=1685

Knowledge@SMU
Customer Versus Supplier Expectations: Bringing in Value Beyond Just the Widgets
In a highly competitive world where the customer expects to be king, why are so many firms unhappy with the products they purchase, sales staff who over-promise and don't deliver, and less than optimal after-sales service? In a recent paper published in the Journal of Marketing, Singapore Management University marketing professor Kapil R. Tuli and Emory University professors Ajay K. Kohli and Sundar G. Bhardwaj shed light on what appears to be a fundamental mismatch between customer expectations and what suppliers think their customers want.
http://knowledge.smu.edu.sg/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&ID=1082

_________________________________________________________________

Articles and Links from Knowledge@Wharton Sponsors

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http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/weblink/339.cfm

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Legal Blog Watch

Legal Blog Watch

Lawyers Could See Record Payday

An Iowa court is expected to rule today on whether to approve two attorneys' request for $75 million in fees and costs for a class action lawsuit they brought against Microsoft Corp. According to an Associated Press report, the award, if approved, would be a record for the state. The fee request comes from lawyers Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines and Richard M. Hagstrom of Minneapolis, who settled the case in April for $179.95 million, but not before three trips to the Iowa Supreme Court and some seven years of litigation. In their motion asking to the court to approve the fees, the lawyers say they are warranted by "the complexity and difficulty of the case and the excellent result obtained."

According to AP, eight Iowans have filed letters with the court opposing the fee request. "How in the name of all that is sacred can you even imagine that to be equitable?" one wrote. Another called the request "an obscene amount of money to pay to Roxanne Conlin for bothering the court with this witch hunt." Conlin points out that the request includes $8 million the attorneys have spent in costs and more than 117,000 hours of work over seven years.

Meanwhile, Conlin and attorneys from Hagstrom's firm Zelle, Hofmann, Voelbel, Mason & Gette have already won approval of $48 million in attorney fees for a similar class action in Minnesota. And Hagstrom is asking for another $24 million in fees in a related lawsuit against Microsoft in Wisconsin.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 31, 2007 at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Honoring Lifetimes of Achievement

For the fourth year running, I have failed to win one of The American Lawyer magazine's lifetime achievement awards. But that's OK: I've still got a few years left in me, and the magazine's editors have managed to find eight high-achieving lawyers who actually deserve the award. As announced yesterday, recipients of Am Law's fourth annual lifetime achievement awards are:

James A. Baker III, Baker Botts, Houston. A former secretary of state and White House chief of staff, Baker's years of public service were bookended by stints as a partner at Am Law 100 firms. Despite his client commitments, he hasn't left the public sphere, most recently co-chairing the congressionally appointed Iraq Study Group.
Thomas A. Gottschalk, Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, D.C. Gottschalk left K&E 13 years ago to become general counsel at General Motors Corp., where he set the in-house standard for promoting diversity and pro bono. He returned to his former firm after retiring from GM last year.
Shirley M. Hufstedler, Morrison & Foerster, Los Angeles. A leader in the pioneer generation of women lawyers, she served as secretary of education under Jimmy Carter and for 11 years as a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She and her husband, Seth, headed an elite litigation boutique known for its high-quality work and its willingness to take on difficult public interest cases.
Nathaniel R. Jones, Blank Rome, Cincinnati. Jones was NAACP general counsel for a decade, beginning in 1969, taking several cases to the Supreme Court. President Carter named him to the 6th Circuit, where he served for 23 years.
Ira M. Millstein, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, New York. Even his friends say that Millstein, one of the partners who built a small Manhattan shop into a global powerhouse, didn't invent corporate governance; he just keeps being asked to perfect it. Throughout his career, Millstein has served as one of New York's leading private citizens, coming to the aid of projects as diverse as restoring Central Park and redeveloping lower Manhattan.
E. Barrett Prettyman Jr., Hogan & Hartson, Washington, D.C. A clerk to three Supreme Court justices and a leading appellate advocate in his own right, Prettyman also helped mentor a new generation of Supreme Court specialists, most notably John Roberts. Along the way, he was a pro bono stalwart, first president of the D.C. consolidated bar and a public servant, serving in the Kennedy Justice Department and as D.C.'s inspector general.
Jerold D. Solovy and Thomas P. Sullivan, Jenner & Block, Chicago. Partners for decades, Solovy and Sullivan are cornerstones of Jenner's formidable litigation department and the firm's extraordinary pro bono record. Both have been at the forefront of a variety of criminal justice issues, ranging from promoting counsel for the indigent to arguing pro bono appeals to the U.S. and Illinois Supreme Courts.

The honorees, said The American Lawyer editor-in-chief Aric Press, "have exemplified the legal profession's twin values of client service and public duty." They will be honored at an Oct. 24 dinner in New York City.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 31, 2007 at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rowe Today, Gone Tomorrow

Today marks the last day of existence for the Chicago-based law firm Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. Tomorrow it becomes just Mayer Brown. The reason for condensing its name, according to this Aug. 23 announcement: "To build a stronger and more defined brand in a fiercely competitive market."

The firm's current name, as Brenda Sapino Jeffreys reminds us at Tex Parte Blog, came to be in 2002, when the Windy City's Mayer, Brown & Platt merged with London's Rowe & Maw. With this move to a shorter and sweeter name, the firm joins a trend that is increasingly popular among law firms, as Martha Neil observes at the ABA Journal's Law News Now. And with the new name comes, of course, a new logo, in which a diamond, not an ampersand, separates Mayer and Brown. In that, Peter Lattman at the Wall St. Journal's Law Blog see a trend towards firms not only shortening their names but also adding typographical symbols.

Unfortunately for Mayer Brown, the name change will do nothing to change the $2 billion lawsuit it faces for allegedly helping to mislead creditors and investors of commodities and futures broker Refco Inc.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 31, 2007 at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

6th Circuit Chides Lawyers on Law

The case before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned whether the state of Michigan could bar strippers from dancing bottomless. But in this Detroit Free Press report about the case, one sentence that stood out was this:

"The judges also chided state lawyers for misapplying legal theories, relying on outdated law and inadequately explaining how the ban furthered state interests."

That piqued my curiosity, so I pulled up the case, Hamilton's Bogarts Inc. v. Michigan, decided yesterday. As it turns out, that one paragraph from the Free Press sums up virtually the entire decision, which chastises the state's lawyers for the legal inadequacy of their case on three major points:

The state "appears to confuse the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel." Even though the state's brief argued the former, the court "forgave" it and treated it as an argument for the latter, noting, "Latin is a dead language anyway."
The state "relies almost entirely" on a 21st Amendment legal argument that, while once considered viable, the Supreme Court expressly disavowed a decade ago. Given this, the state's primary legal argument "is no longer correct."
The state fails to address the most critical First Amendment issue, that of whether the regulations on nude dancing are content-based or content neutral. "We are left to guess about the governmental interest at stake ..., not to mention the critical question of which standard governs the case."

The case is not over. The appeal to the 6th Circuit addressed only the lower court's refusal to enjoin enforcement of the nude-dancing ban pending litigation. The circuit court said the injunction should be granted and remanded the case for further proceedings, adding, "Hopefully the case will be litigated differently after remand."

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 31, 2007 at 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Escribanos, consúltenos, opine

Friday, August 31, 2007

Legal Blog Watch

Legal Blog Watch

It's Not Just Law Firms That Alter Wikipedia Entries -- Dutch Royalty Does It Too

As we posted here, it's not just law firms that are altering their Wikipedia entries. According to this amusing article from The Associated Press (8/30/07), Dutch royals do it too. As the article describes, a Dutch prince and his wife revised their entry to give their version of the somewhat scandalous circumstances surrounding their marriage. As with the law firm edits, the Dutch couple's changes were discovered through Wiki Scanner.

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on August 30, 2007 at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Transcript of Sen. Craig Police Interview Released

Scary, is all I can think after reading (and hearing the audio) of the just-released transcript of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's police interview. For those who haven't followed the story, Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport bathroom back in June 2007 and, apparently without consulting a lawyer, plead guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct earlier this month. During the police interview, Craig's tone was (in my view) entirely respectful; he didn't try to pull rank, but the officer took umbrage just the same:

I know you're not going to fight me. But that's not the point. I would respect you and I still respect you. I don't disrespect you but I'm disrespected right now and I'm not tying to act like I have all kinds of power or anything, but you're sitting here lying to a police officer.

If a police officer can treat a United States senator in this manner, imagine how many run-of-the-mill, less-educated or -savvy criminals are intimidated into pleading guilty for what they might not have done. That's one aspect of this that's scary.

Of course, what's also troubling is that Craig couldn't discern even from the interview how weak the police officer's case was and apparently didn't understand the value of calling a lawyer. Even if Craig did engage in lewd conduct, a skilled lawyer could have helped Craig understand the legal and political implications of a guilty plea. How can we expect our representatives to defend our rights when, apparently, some of them don't understand these rights themselves?

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on August 30, 2007 at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Legal Blog Watch

Legal Blog Watch

eBay Scheme Earns Reprimand for Lawyer

The Delaware Supreme Court yesterday issued a public reprimand against lawyer Joseph N. Gielata for "an ill conceived plan" to orchestrate eBay purchases in order to recover treble damages from PayPal. Seeking to cash in on a money-back guarantee PayPal offered, Gielata reportedly sold a friend three paintings via eBay for $3,000 then represented the friend in a lawsuit against PayPal seeking to recover the purchase price plus treble damages and attorney fees. Gielata pled guilty to misdemeanor theft before facing the ethics complaint. The Supreme Court affirmed the recommendation of the state Board on Professional Responsibility, which concluded:

"The Panel believes that the evidence presented showed by clear and convincing evidence that there was a scheme, an ill conceived plan to get together with a friend, sell paintings to each other, make claims against Pay Pal and then pursue legal action to recover not only the Money Back Guarantee, but treble damages and attorney's fees."

[Hat tip to Legal Profession Blog.]

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 29, 2007 at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Questioning Craig's 'Criminal Intent'

Once an editor always an editor. At the blog LawBeat, Mark Obbie, former executive editor of The American Lawyer, issues an assignment to reporters who cover the law: "Tell us what it takes to prove criminal intent in a case like Sen. Larry Craig's." As Obbie notes, the police report describes Sen. Craig as having "placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door," then tapping his foot and swiping his hand under the stall divider. Apart from the obvious question of where else is there to put a roll-aboard suitcase in a cramped bathroom stall, Obbie sees larger issues for journalists to explore:

"How many such cases are there? How many are contested (I imagine very few, for the same reasons that led Craig to hope this would all disappear without a trace)? Is Minnesota law typical of other states' laws on such things? What's the history of police excesses in hunting down desperate, closeted gay men? These questions obviously matter because an alleged personal indiscretion became a police matter based on someone's interpretation of toe-tapping and hand-waving. Let's learn more about the law, and figure out if it's fair."

In Craig's case, those questions appear to be legally moot, given that he signed a plea of guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct. But Craig's plea raises questions in its own right. Although the plea states, "I now make no claim that I am innocent," any lawyer who has ever handled a criminal matter knows that a guilty plea is often more a concession than an admission. Criminal defendants (and criminal prosecutors) regularly enter into plea deals for reasons that have little to do with guilt or innocence and much more to do with the costs of contesting the case -- in money, time or, as here, reputation. Is the criminal-justice system truly interested in achieving justice? There's a question for an enterprising reporter to pursue.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 29, 2007 at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Short List Emerges to Replace Gonzales

Following up on our post Monday, With Gonzales Gone, Who's Next? the Associated Press is reporting -- with credit to a "senior Bush administration official" -- that five names have come to the top of the list as possible replacements for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while the full list of "possible, if highly speculative candidates" could number as many as 24.

Short-list candidates identified by AP are Ted Olson, former solictor general and now a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; George J. Terwilliger III, deputy AG under former President George H.W. Bush and now a partner with White & Case; Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Larry D. Thompson, former deputy attorney general and now GC of PepsiCo; and the acting AG, Solicitor General Paul D. Clement.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 29, 2007 at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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26 Free Tools for Buzz Monitoring;

26 Free Tools for Buzz Monitoring

Monday, August 27th, 2007;
-- Andy Beal |

There are a lot of companies that will happily relieve you of your dollars, in exchange for buzz monitoring services. While many large companies will enjoy the peace of mind that comes from having a company track their reputation for them, the rest of us need something a little less expensive–or better yet, free!

We've compiled a list of twenty six buzz monitoring tools that are free of charge. Use these tools to keep track of your company reputation or even spy on your competition!

1. Your Industry

If you simply don't have time to track everything that specifically relates to your company–or your competition–you can still track news that relates to your industry. Moreover and Yahoo are just a couple of resources that offer RSS feeds for aggregated industry news.

2. Mainstream Media News

One of the best ways to track mainstream media mentions of your company is to use Google News. Enter your company name, sort the results by date published and then subscribe to the RSS feed. You'll get instant RSS updates of any news items that mention your business. Example for "apple".

3. News Buzz

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It's one thing to track any news that relates to your business, but what if you just want to know about the news that becomes popular? Sites such as Digg and Reddit will let you search for submitted stories that match your company name. Subscribe to the resulting RSS feed and you'll know about any story on Digg that mentions your company–or your biggest rival.

4. Social Media News

By the time a hot news story gets picked-up by the mainstream media, it could have made the rounds for days in the blogosphere. You can capitalize on positive buzz and put out any reputation fires by tracking social media. Technorati is one of the best options for tracking social media sites. Custom RSS feeds let you get quick updates on any blog that utters your company name.

5. Blog Posts

If a blog happens to "ping" the blogosphere, the chances are that it will get on Google Blog Search. Even if the blog isn't in Google news, or doesn't make the main Google index, Google Blog Search might still find that story that mentions your CEO or your recent product launch. Get alerts to matching stories via email or RSS.

6. Blog Comments

Sometimes tracking a blog post doesn't reveal the full conversation about your business. The blog post might be positive, but those leaving comments could attack your reputation. Services such as co.mments.com track the comments left on blogs. You can search for your brand and subscribe to the RSS feed for instant updates.

7. Blog Conversations

A negative blog post appears on a low-trafficked blog and there are no comments to track. End of story? Not quite, what if a very popular blogger picks up on the story? It could spread very quickly and catch you by surprise. Blogpulse's conversation tracker will help you track who's linking to that blog post about your company.

8. Blog Trends

How well is your competitor's new product launch going? Blogpulse trends lets you track whether a keyword is getting growing blog mentions or not. Apple's iPhone saw a 1000% jump in blog mentions leading up to its launch.

9. Bookmarks

Remember the days when your customers would bookmark your site in IE and you never knew about it? Thanks to online bookmarking services such as del.icio.us more people are sharing their bookmarks online. RSS feeds make it easy to track whenever someone bookmarks a web page that includes mention of your company.

10. Photos

Did an employee release a top-secret photo of your new products? Did someone snap a photo of your CEO leaving a strip-club? The chances are high that they might upload it to image hosting sites such as Flickr. Luckily, you can subscribe to an RSS feed that will update you on any new image that matches your company name?or the name of your slimy CEO.

11. Videos
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So what if your CEO was caught on video having a lap-dance? Ouch! Ok, less damaging, someone releases a video showing a negative product review. Google Video recently switched focus to index videos from many online hosting sites (such as YouTube and MetaCafe). Now you can keep track of videos that include your company.

12. Tags
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Wouldn't it be great if you could enter a keyword and see who used that word as a "tag" How much better would it be if you could see matching tags across more than a dozen sites? Keotag.com does just that, making it easy for you to track if someone tags a page using your company or product name.

13. Forum Posts

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Sometimes the most important conversations don't happen on blogs. Forums and message boards can host conversations about your company and you'd never know about it. Don't panic! Sites such as Boardtracker.com will keep an eye on popular forums for you and alert you by RSS if your company is mentioned in a thread.

14. Changing Information

Wikipedia is one of the most trusted resources for information on the web. You might be interested in any updates to your company profile or maybe you want to know if your competitor is trying to remove links to your web site. Fortunately you can track change history for any Wikipedia page and have the changes sent to your RSS reader of choice.

15. Job Listings

If your competitor wants to start a new service or launch a new product, the chances are they'll need to hire new staff to achieve this. Classifieds search engine Oodle scours many online job listings and aggregates the information in a central location. Set up RSS feeds for searches on your biggest competitors and you'll know whenever they list a vacant position.

16. Financial Filings

You can get a good feel for the financial health of your publicly-traded competitors by keeping a close eye on their SEC filings. Use Edgar Online and you'll know if they're subject to an SEC investigation or if their CEO is dumping stock faster than Martha Stewart.

17. Conference Calls

Sticking with public companies, sometimes you can learn some competitive information by listening to the company's conference calls. But who has time for that? SeekingAlpha lets you subscribe to the RSS feed of conference call transcripts. Open up the transcript and you can quickly get a snapshot of their financial health. You might even learn about a new product launch–one which you might want to think about for your business.

18. Patents

Keeping track of patent filings was notoriously difficult before Google Patent Search came along. Now you can keep any eye on patents filed that relate to your industry. Better yet, keep track of patents that might violate your company held patents.

19. Events

Yahoo's Upcoming lets you get RSS alerts on any new event that matches your selected keyword. You can keep track of conferences that you might want to attend, or sponsor. In addition, you could keep track of seminars or meeting being held by your competitors.

20. New Products

Let's say you want to get some ideas of products that might be hot right now. Amazon.com lets you view product "tags" and then review similar tags. You can use this to get an idea of companion products that you might want to launch.

21. Search Query Trends

What search queries are popular at Google right now? Thanks to Google Trends you can get an idea of which keywords are most searched for. You can narrow your research to specific countries or cities–letting you know if a product has global or local appeal.

22. Keyword Referrals

Sure you could probably take an educated guess as to which sites might get the most traffic for a particular keyword, but it's more fun to actually spy on your competitors. Compete's Search Analytics allows you to enter a keyword and see which web sites are getting traffic for that keyword.

23. Site Referrals

Ok, so maybe you're not sure which keywords you should target for your next SEM campaign. Compete's Search Analytics will also let you enter any domain name and see which keywords are driving traffic to that site. Now you know which keywords your competitors are targeting.

24. Email Updates

If you're not quite ready for all of that RSS reader nonsense, you can still keep track of the latest buzz via email. Google Alerts let you track web, blogs, news and groups for any phrase you want. Select daily, weekly or "as it happens" updates and you'll get an email whenever your company name is mentioned.

25. The Untrackable

Some stuff just can't be tracked that easily. If you want to track changes at a site–even if they don't offer RSS or email updates–there are many tools that will do it for you. Our favorite is Copernic's Tracker which, for $50, will let you keep an eye on any web site. Use it to monitor RipOffReport.com, forum threads, or even your competitor's web site.

26. Anything You Want

You don't have to be a developer in order to create your own custom buzz monitoring tool. Thanks to Yahoo Pipes, you can quickly set up your own RSS tracking, complete with filters. Want to track Twitter for mentions of your company? Not a problem with Yahoo Pipes.

Over to You

So, that should be enough buzz monitoring tools to get you going. Some are more useful than others, but all are FREE! What are your favorite buzz monitoring tools? Leave a comment or post to your own blog and ping us.

Like this post? Check out our FREE Beginners Guide to Online Reputation Management.

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Friday, August 31, 2007

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